Dodge City

At Dodge City on Friday night all the motels were taken up by some cattlemen’s (what else?) convention, so we stayed at the Gunsmoke Camp Ground just west of town.  Here we found all the famous Gunsmoke characters in one form or another. Marshal Dillon, Festus, Miss Kitty, etc., photos, postcards, souvenirs...

The owners were very nice and the showers were clean and the campground was adjacent to a dirt road that goes straight north for miles and miles and was suitably for an excellent morning run. I ran for an hour and was passed by a total of two pickup trucks.

Then it was off to Historic Dodge City. We paid our entrance fee to the Boot Hill Museum and reconstructed Front Street. It turned out to be interesting and fairly well done. If you want to know more about Dodge, just enlarge this photo and read it!

Here's a synopsis: It happened to be on the Santa Fe Trail used by traders. Settlers came along on the trail. Indians didn't like settlers. Army built Ft. Dodge to "protect" settlers from Indians. Railroad came. Hunters killed a zillion buffalos. Indians left (no more buffalo). Cattle came. Cowboys shot each other. Cattle stayed. Cattle smells. Tourists came. The end.

Lorri tries out the Dodge jail.

Boot Hill.

Some of the known people buried on Boot Hill. Check for you relatives. There is a George Hill buried there. I think he might be related to me.

Lorri living out her fantasy of being a school marm.

Front Street, Dodge City

OK, we finally got out of Dodge. We saw this excellent-looking Sportsmobile for sale along the side of the road. It's the 1963 Ford Falcon model. The asking price was $750 and the sign in the window said that Elvis had slept in it. I don't think so. If he had, they would have been asking much more, maybe $1000.

The next night we stayed in a nice motel in Wichita, with a king bed, high speed Internet and a TV for watching the NCAA final four.

Wine Stop (NOT!) On Sunday we had planned on visiting the only Kansas wine tasting place that was anywhere near our route but it wasn't open until 1:00 PM. We couldn't take the time to wait around so we headed out toward Missouri. But...while still in Kansas I called the winery (Wyndewood, I think) and ordered a couple bottles to be shipped to Williamsburg, future site of the Interstate Wine Challenge.